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Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sought Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s intervention to speed up land allocation process for setting up a LPG bottling unit in Khurda.
In the letter written to the CM on Friday, Pradhan stated that the Chief Minister should direct the concerned authorities for issuance of necessary permission so that work on the bottling unit can begin immediately adding that the project would benefit the local people and help develop the economy.
Pradhan stated that the Rs 150 crore project is getting delayed for last 19 months even after complete payment was made by the IOCL for the land.
The oil marketing company has obtained necessary environment clearance on November 5, 2018 and the project was cleared by the State government under the single window clearance on December 6, 2017.
“IOCL is prepared to commence the project work immediately after receipt of necessary permission for sale deed,” the letter read.
Elaborating further Pradhan mentioned, “Such projects will benefit all the LPG consumers of the State as it would reduce the transportation charges of LPG cylinder from bottling plant to the distributors.”
He alleged that the State government’s non-cooperative attitude in allocating land is affecting the interests of the common people of the State.
The union minister said there are four LPG bottling plants of OMCs in Odisha and they have already invested Rs 100 crore for augmenting the existing bottling capacity per annum from 1.5 crore cylinders in 2014 to 3 crore cylinders in 2018.
Three new LPG bottling plants are underway at Balangir, Rayagada and Khurda at a total cost of Rs 403 crore and one LPG import terminal at Paradip at a cost of Rs 690 crore, he said.
IOCL has already commissioned eastern Indias first LPG pipeline - Paradip-Balasore-Haldia at a cost of Rs 365 crore in Odisha to supply bulk LPG in a safe, cost-effective and hassle-free manner to its Balasore bottling plant, Pradhan added.
Earlier, authorities of IOCL had written to the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Law) for approval of the proposal for entering into sale deed at the earliest.
BJP state vice president Sameer Mohanty said, “IOCL has already deposited the money with the State government for allocation of the land. There is no reason why there is a delay. It seems the Law Minister might be fearful that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and PM Narendra Modi might take credit for the project.”
Refuting the charges Law Minister Pratap Jena said, “We are cooperating with the Centre in all the matters. But the Centre should keep its promises and carry out the project work.”
